Friday, February 17, 2012

Cynsational News & Giveaways

On Being Thin Skinned by David Macinnis Gill from I Am Chikin, Hear Me Roar. Peek: "...thick-skinned peo­ple are not very good writ­ers. They are bul­let
proof to crit­i­cism, yes, but they also lack the insight and empa­thy
required to feel the emo­tions that should res­o­nant through­out their
work."

Character Entry: Clever by Angela Ackerman from The Bookshelf Muse. Peek: "Resourcefulness marked by inventiveness or originality." Note: bookmark this blog for brainstorming!

On Nostalgia: Which of You Is Which? by Tim Wynne-Jones from Write at Your Own Risk. Peek: "We are not immune to nostalgia but cannot–must not, I feel–project
onto our stories any sense of this hankering for a time that, frankly,
never was, except that wishing makes it so."

Cynsational Blog Tour Tip: Turn in your texts and images well in advance, so the participating bloggers have plenty time to properly edit and format your posts.

Interview with Linda Sue Park by Marjorie Coughlan from PaperTigers.org. Peek: "The response of the students and teachers who have read the book has
been just remarkable. Dozens of schools and individuals have been
inspired by Salva’s story to raise money for Water for South Sudan."

Making Your Writing Dreams a Reality by Kristy Lahoda from QueryTracker.net. Peek: "They (twin babies) came home at the beginning of October and while they slept 18 hours a day, I wrote. I had to be very conscientious about not getting distracted with other things that weren’t as important..."

2012 YA Writer-in-Residence Program at Miami-Dade Public Library System from Austin SCBWI. Peek: "We are seeking a dynamic and engaging young adult author who will
encourage local teens, 12-18, in the creative writing process. The three
month residency will run from September – November 2012 in Miami,
Florida."

Seeking Money to Finance an Author School Visit? The SCBWI Amber Brown Grant is now open and accepting applications for 2012! Peek: "Two schools will be rewarded with an all-expense-paid visit by a well respected children’s author or illustrator. The chosen schools will also receive a $250 stipend to assist in creating this memorable event to celebrate reading, learning, and children’s literature and $250 worth of books by the visiting author. Additionally, one runner-up school will
be selected and rewarded with books valued at $250.00."

Marshall Dawa on Adapting to Create Success from Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing. Peek: "Nothing against hanging on, but sometimes we have to fall in order to soar. Learning when to do the former so as to experience the latter is tricky."

Querying Your Unlikable Character by Jane Leback from QueryTracker.netBlog. Peek: "Maybe it's the character's intelligence. Maybe he was abused as a child
and wanted to break out of the cycle but couldn't figure out how.
Present those characteristics. Let us know the character is
multidimensional."

On a Budget? How to Support Authors and Show Your Book Love from Megan Crewe. Peek: "Checking a book out from the library shows them that readers are
interested, which makes them more likely to pick up later books from the
same author. If your local library doesn’t already have the book you
want, you can usually submit a request that they add it to their
collection in person or on the library’s website."

Cynsational Business Tip: Be discreet about any correspondence, revisions or other exchanges with a prospective editor or agent until a contract is finalized. Likewise, there's no reason to go public about your submission history while you're still shopping the manuscript, and it may work against you.

Writing a Strong Plot: Be Cruel to Your Characters by Chris Eboch from Write Like a Pro! A Free Online Writing Workshop. Peek: "You can create conflict by setting up situations which force a person to
confront their fears. If someone is afraid of heights, make them go
someplace high. If they're afraid of taking responsibility, force them
to be in charge."

Keep Calm and Carry On: Reflections on Bulldozing Writing Walls by Luke Reynolds from Hunger Mountain. Peek: "No matter how little you feel like it, no matter how futile it sometimes
seems, you must keep writing. You must continue to send out queries.
You must continue to make contact, believing that the words you write do
possess all the possible power and beauty in them to affect one life."

A Glorious Year of E-booking by Arthur Slade from Arthur Slade: The YA Fantastical Fiction Guy. Peek: "Exactly a year ago, I began putting my out-of-print backlist up for sale
on various ebook vendors (Smashwords, Kindle, iBooks, B&N, Kobo...)." Arthur talks numbers and features nifty visual aids.

To enter, comment on this post (click previous link and scrolll) and include an email address
(formatted like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email address. Or you can email me directly with "Blessed giveaway" in the subject line. Author sponsored. Eligibility: international. Deadline: Feb. 27.

To enter, comment on this post (click link and scroll) and include an email address (formatted like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email address. Or email Cynthia directly with "Camping Trip" in the subject line. Author-sponsored. Eligibility: North America (U.S./Canada). Deadline: midnight CST Feb. 20.

To enter, comment on this post (click previous link and scroll) and include an email address (formatted like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email address. Or email Cynthia directly with "One Cool Friend" in the subject line.
Author-sponsored. Eligibility: North America (U.S./Canada). Deadline: midnight CST Feb. 20. See also One Cool Friend Before Breakfast from Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Note: in-depth post features early sketches.

To enter, comment on this post (click previous link and scroll) and include an email address (formatted like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email address. Or you can email Cynthia directly with "Alex Flinn Giveaway" in the subject line. Deadline: Feb. 20. Author sponsored. U.S. entries only.

Last call! Enter to win one of two copies of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Dutton, 2012). To enter, comment on this post (click previous link and scroll) and include an email address (formatted
like: cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com) or a link to an email
address. Or email Cynthia directly with "The Fault in Our Stars" in the subject line. Publisher-sponsored. Eligibility: U.S. Deadline: midnight CST Feb. 20.

The Cynsational winners of the Diabolical by Cynthia Leitich Smith giveaway were Sarah in Iowa (grand prize), Darrella in Texas, Mahek in Surrey (England), Yamile in Utah, Sheela in New York, Aiwah in Australia, and Donna in Missouri.

Please also note that you can always find signed stock of my books at BookPeople!

Girls in the Stacks says of Diabolical: "The story unraveled with many surprises and twists, and kept me
guessing and entertained. The memos, news articles and phone
transcripts interspersed between chapters gave the reader hidden
insights to the story – sometimes humorous, sometimes chilling."

Note: Due to volume, I can't
feature the author/illustrator events of all of my Cynsational
readers, but if you're Austin bound for an appearance here, let me
know, and I'll try to work in a shout out or two.

4 comments:

I love these Friday summaries, even when The Bookshelf Muse isn't mentioned ;). Gamer Girl looks like something I totally would've read as a teen, and I love Linda Sue Park, so I can't wait to read that one.